


Rogue Traveller

by cazmalfoy



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M, Pre-Torchwood, Time Agent Jack Harkness, Time Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 20:59:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6582235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr Rules and Regulations has turned rogue?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rogue Traveller

The sun was hanging low on the horizon and in the dim light, he could barely make out the outlines of horse-pulled carts passing him in the street. They needed electricity, he decided, if only he had paid attention that time he was being shown how to create the energy source. That would have made him rich, richer than he could ever be if he stuck with the Time Agency.

He took a swig from the pitcher of ale he held in his hand and grimaced. It tasted like some drunken yob had pissed in it. Tossing it to the ground at his feet, he considered that it was entirely possible someone had.

The other man was late, he should have been here long before the sun set, yet here he was, still standing outside a saloon waiting for him and trying to avoid being soiled by the man throwing up nearby.

He turned when he heard footsteps behind him. "You’re late," he stated, kicking a rat across the road when it ran in front of him.

John Hart scowled as he stepped over the drunken man trying to rub against his leg. "I was busy," he retorted, stepping into the taller man’s personal space. "Travelling through time isn’t an exact science, you know? I arrived in the 1500’s before I arrived in this dive."

"After ten years of being in the business, you still can’t get it right?" He shook his head, partly in amusement but mostly in disappointment at his protégé. He scowled and brushed his long hair back as it fell in his eyes.

Hart glanced at his surroundings, a distasteful look graces his features. "What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought your assignment was Rome, 4619: the guys there are hot and at least they’ve heard of personal hygiene."

At that moment his wristband beeped and the blue eyed man took a step back. "That’ll be the agency," he indicated that John should activate the message that had been left for him. "It’ll be a ‘Wanted’ message, putting a bounty on my head no doubt," he added as John pressed the play button.

The brunet’s features displayed a look of surprise before the look morphed into one of confusion when the message ended. "There’s a million-silver-coin bounty on your head."

"Which is why I’ve changed my name and been hiding here for a while." He stepped off the street into the road, John at his side as they made their way to the nearby ocean front. "Jack Harkness seems to suit me more than my real name ever did, don’t you think?"

John walked over to the cliff and kicked a rock at his feet, watching as it sailed over the edge and fell to the darkening water below them, barely making a ripple in the vast body of water. "You’ve gone rogue then?" Jack nodded his head and Hart snorted with laughter. "I find that strangely hard to believe. We’re talking about Mr Rules and Regulations here: you’ve never met one you didn’t immediately love."

Jack wished he had pockets to thrust his hands into as he moved over to John; instead he chose to slide his arms behind his back, clasping his hands together at the base of his spine. "That was before I went to the Mind Reader."

"A mind reader? You left the agency because of a bloody psychic?" John rolled his eyes and flopped to the ground, watching as the sun slowly continued its descent into the ocean.

"Not  _a_ mind reader," the brunet shook his head, following John’s action and sitting next to him. " _The_  Mind Reader."

It took a moment or two but John’s mouth soon formed an ‘o’ shape as his brain released what Jack was talking about. "From the twelfth century?" Jack nodded his head and John whistled. "She’s the best psychic ever to have lived. Time travellers use her all the time to find things that have been lost. She-,"

John trailed off at the look Jack was giving him. The emotions in his eyes were fighting for annoyance and irritation. Of course Jack knew what he was being told; he was the one that discussed these things with Hart originally.

"What did she tell you?" he changed the subject.

Jack sighed and smoothed down his hair. He was silent for a heartbeat before he spoke, "There’s something wrong with my mind. Something is missing. I don’t know what it is, or even when the memories were from. But they’re gone, there’s nothing left in that space except emptiness. Two years of my life have been completely erased and not even the psychic can dig deep enough to find them."

"Do you know who took them?" Hart whispered. He had seen his mentor in every mood he could think of, but this one scared him the most. He wasn’t angry; not the kind of angry that made him wanted to smash someone’s head into a billion pieces. This anger was different; it was quiet, calm and methodical. It was almost like Jack was planning something and John didn’t think he was brave enough to ask what that was.

"The agency," Jack murmured, squashing a bug on his boot. "They’re the only ones with abilities powerful enough to alter the memory so that even the Mind Reader can’t detect what the original ones were."

He flipped his wrist band open and entered the security code, allowing his access to it’s functions. "I’m surprised they haven’t blocked you from using that," John commented.

Jack flashed him a brilliant grin. "Who said they haven’t tried? I’ve programmed it into a different frequency; it should keep me off their radar for a while." John looked amazed at the taller man’s admission and he laughed. "Don’t forget I’m an engineer before a Time Agent, John," he whispered, reaching out and running a hand over Hart’s cheek and down his neck.

"I know you have to turn me over to the agency," Jack whispered, his thumb tracing John’s lower lip. "Don’t feel guilty about it. Tell them my alias and every thing else you can think off. It’s your duty, I wouldn’t expect anything else from you and it’d be selfish of me to ask you not to speak."

"Why did you ask me to come here?" John asked, his eyes flickering closed when Jack pressed a kiss to his lips. 

When he spoke, his breath ghosted over John’s lips, sending shivers down the Agent’s spine. "Because after five years in a relationship,"

"Two weeks," Hart corrected, opening his eyes a little. "Don’t forget the time loop."

Jack smirked and shook his head as he continued, "I felt like you deserved to know. I owed it to you not to leave without saying goodbye."

He pressed one last kiss against John’s lips before getting to his feet. He pressed a couple of buttons and almost instantly a pale blue doorway-shaped light appeared next to him. "Goodbye, John," he said sadly. "If you ever decide to turn rogue, give me a call."


End file.
